As the City of Vicksburg’s former parks and recreation director, Sid Beauman oversaw the development of Halls Ferry Park’s facilities and the construction of the city’s Olympic class swimming pool, which has been the site of many swim meets.

Beauman would go on to be elected to the Board of Mayor and Aldermen for three terms.

As an alderman, he was the quiet member of the board, only speaking when he felt he needed to, and when he spoke, his comments were well thought out and to the point. There was no misunderstanding what he meant.

“He believed in Vicksburg and wanted to see things happen. He wanted to make a difference,” City Clerk Walter Osborne said.

A sports complex would make a difference for Vicksburg. The visitors it would attract would be good for Vicksburg. The dollars those visitors will bring with them and spend in Vicksburg would be good for Vicksburg.

Would Beauman be a champion of the mayor’s push for a sports complex? We think so as long as the process was fair and transparent.

Beauman’s legacy as public servant is not going to be that he passed laws or raised a howling mob to fight injustice. Rather, it will be of a man who loved and believed in his city, of a man who was straight forward and honest and one who put service before self, even when illness threatened to hold him back.

In other words, he was an honorable man who served his city and its residence with devotion, dedication and a desire to do the right thing.

Beauman’s integrity was never an issue. You always knew where he stood on an issue or with an individual.

“He was responsible for making Vicksburg’s recreation department and its associated programs among the top in the Southeast,” Don Miller, a former South Ward aldermen, said. During Beauman’s tenure as director, Miller said, Halls Ferry Park, its tennis courts, youth and adult ball fields and a baseball field meeting college and minor league baseball regulations was built.

“The Governor’s Cup Baseball Tournament started coming here after the field was completed,” he said.

A fitting tribute to Beauman would be to name a new sports complex after him, a man who honorably and humbly served this community.